Five subtle performance cars

Subtle performance cars are great - they’re cars which don’t shout about the fact that they’re fast. To most people they just look like fairly normal cars, but they’re actually packing a lot of power. These are our favourite stealth cars on sale today…

Mercedes G55 AMG

Most members of the public would see a G-Class and think that it’s just an old 4x4. However, the G55 AMG is a bit of a beast, it has a 5.5 litre V8, producing 507bhp. With a 0-60 time of 5.5 seconds it’s faster than a Porsche Cayman – that is, until you reach a corner!

Nissan GT-R

The GT-R is well-known by car buffs, but it seems many people think it looks like a fairly normal car and that as it has a big Nissan badge on the back it won’t be fast. Wrong again. The 2011 Nissan GT-R can hit 60mph in an astonishing 3.5 seconds. Not many cars are capable of keeping up with it.

Mercedes E63 AMG Estate

This looks like a fairly normal estate car, but under the bonnet there’s a 525hp 6.3 litre V8 that will reach 60 in 4.5 seconds and go on to 155mph. If you were to take the AMG badges off then few people would tell it apart from a normal E-Class Estate.

Volkswagen Golf GTI

There are so many Golfs around that thanks to fairly subtle styling and small GTI badges, the Golf GTI doesn’t stand out. The fact it’s one of the best hot hatches on sale and that it can keep up with sports cars costing twice as much really isn’t obvious just by looking at it.

Porsche 911 Turbo S

Ok, so everyone knows that Porsche 911s are no slouches, but few passers-by will ever know just how quick the Turbo S is. It doesn’t have a huge spoiler, most aren’t ordered in lurid colours and even most car anoraks couldn’t tell it’s an ‘S’ without looking at the name on the back. The Turbo S will get to 60 in 3.3 seconds, which is faster than the far flashier Ferrari 458 or Mercedes SLS.